Fell Wyvern Rising
by Chayo Adams
Summary: What if Sora was the one that washed up on the island instead of Kairi? What would change? 10 years later, Sora and the Keyblade wielder confront their destinies. Starts off similar to canon story but diverges quickly. Sorax? Rikux?
1. Prologue

"This is really boring..." Riku mumbled to himself, walking along the beach with Tidus. He had just made a new friend the other day who performed some weird magic trick with him. It wasn't a good trick, considering nothing happened, but the light show was pretty neat. Ever since he met that man, Riku had started coming to the beach, in order to hopefully find something interesting and new.

"Who cares? It's pretty peaceful here" Selphie commented, following them, much to Tidus's ire. She could never understand Riku's fascination with the beach. If one didn't know better, you would think that he lived there, he was here so often. It didn't really make any sense, but the alternative would have been playing with Wakka and Lulu, and those two were...weird.

"Who invited her?" Tidus whispered to Riku annoyed. He knew he should've stayed with Wakka, weird girl or not. At least she wasn't annoying, like Selphie. She was always following Riku around, asking questions and just irritating him. She didn't help matters any by hitting him with her jump rope, which only served to make Tidus madder. He opened his mouth to yell at her, when something caught his eye.

"Hey...What's that?" He asked, pointing at a slowly moving object at the end of the beach. It was too far away to be certain of what it was, but it kind of looked like a person.

They all ran towards the end of the beach, and the foreign was revealed to be a child around their age. By the time they had reached him, he had risen to his feet and was staring blankly at the arrival of Tidus, Riku and Selphie.

"Are you okay? You look kind of...awful." Selphie commented.

Riku winced at Selphie's statement. Hadn't she learned any manners? Even Tidus knew better than to just say things like that out loud. It was true though. His white t-shirt was ripped to shreds and he could see a few cuts and bruises hidden under what was left of the shirt. He wore undamaged black pants that flared out slightly at the bottom. He was also soaked to the bone, but was strangely not shivering. He was just staring at Riku, with a strange look in his blue eyes.

He absently pulled on one his brown lockes of hair, showing an interesting tattoo on his hand. It was a glowing purple tattoo that had six eyes arranged in a v shape pattern, with a line behind the eyes linking them together. Riku wasn't sure what the tattoo meant, but it gave him the creeps.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"My name is Riku. You can come with me to my house and get yourself cleaned up. Or at the very least, I can find you a new shirt to wear. What's your name?"

The boy, who up to this point had been staring blankly at Riku, suddenly adopted a more normal expression as he opened his mouth to respond.

"I'm Sora...nice to meet you. And thank you for the help, I appreciate it."

Selphie, who up to this point had been silently watching the interaction between Sora and Rikku, suddenly let out a squeal. "With Sora here, there's so many things we have to do! I need to go tell Wakka and Lulu!"

With her piece shared, she ran off to spread the news of the strange visitor, with Tidus following closely behind her. He had to make sure that Selphie shares the news correctly, and with the right people. And by the right people, Tidus only meant people that Tidus himself did not want to talk to.

Sora stared at the retreating figures silently, while Riku nervously laughed. "I'm sorry about them. They're a little wierd...Are you good to go?"

Without looking away from the retreating figures, Sora nodded. But Sora couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something. Hopefully it wasn't anything too important.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all..._

_Is this the power you seek?_

_Yes._

_Your path is set._

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sora woke up to a log landing on his stomach and knocking the wind out of him. He sat up and looked at the log. "What?" He heard someone laugh behind him and turned to see Riku.

"Hey, look who finally decided to wake up."

"Sora, you lazy bum. You're supposed to be helping us build the raft, but you're down here sleeping," Kairi said as she walked up.

"No...There was this big black dragon and it swallowed me up! I couldn't- ow!" Sora said as Kairi smacked him on the head.

"Are you still dreaming?" Kairi asked.

"It wasn't a dream. Or was it? I don't know," Sora dropped his head and looked at the ground.

"Come on you two, we're supposed to be working on the raft," Riku reminded them.

"Ok. I'll race you!" Kairi chimed.

"What? Are you kidding?" Sora said. He looked at the log and pushed it off of him.

"Ready? Go!" Kairi shouted. Sora and Riku looked at each other and Riku took off running. Sora got up and tripped over the log. He stumbled but kept running, trying to catch up to Riku. Riku was the first one to reach the door, and Sora soon joined him.

"You got a head start," Sora complained after he caught his breath.

"You can worry about that later. Right now let's get the materials for the raft, ok?"

"We'll have a rematch later," Riku said, and Sora nodded in agreement.

"Ok, so we still need two logs, a rope and a cloth," Kairi told them.

"You get one log, I get the other?" Riku suggested.

"Yeah, and I'll get the rope."

"So I'll get the cloth. Sounds good," They all agreed and went to get their assigned items. Riku headed towards the paopu tree, knowing there was a log near there, Sora went and got the one on the beach that was thrown at him.

"Hey, what's going on dude?" Tidus called to Sora. "You up for a round?"

"Maybe later. Riku and I are gathering supplies."

"What're you guys up to, anyway? Whatever it is, be careful. Of course, having Riku along should be a big help."

"Yeah, well, he's not the only one helping," Sora stated. He picked up the log and went to give it to Kairi. Riku was heading back as well and they both gave the logs to Kairi.

"Ok. We still need the cloth and rope!" Kairi yelled at them but they were already out of sight.

Sora climbed up the ladder to the left, to get to the deck and Riku ran to the right. He ran up to the small ladder then paused to look down at the entrance to the cave that was hidden, in the shadows between the big tree and the rock wall. He grinned and continued to the tree house where there was a cloth hung on the wall. He ran down to the ladder but jumped down instead. He jumped down again, ran down the ramps and back to Kairi.

"Ok! All we need now is the rope Sora's getting." Kairi said and grinned.

"I'll be waiting by the paopu tree." Riku said and started heading for the tree. He got to the tree and sat down on the trunk, while looking out at the ocean.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Hey Riku!" Sora yelled as he ran up.

"Did you give all your supplies to Kairi?"

"Yes sir!"

"Then how about a quick round? "

"Okay, you're on!"

"This one decides the champion!" Riku declared and jumped down. They moved to a good spot and stood in there ready stances. "Ready or not." Sora made the first move and charged at Riku. Riku sidestepped Sora's charge and swung his blade at Sora from behind. Sora turned around and lashed out with a kick at Riku, but Riku abandoned attacking Sora in order to block the kick, and countered the second one. Sora managed to get in a couple of blows, causing Riku to stumble backwards, but he sprung right back up, nailing Sora with a mule kick passed him. They continued fighting like this for a while. They traded blows for a while, Sora trying to force and exploit weaknesses, while Riku steadily defended himself, only attacking when Sora left himself open. Eventually, Riku emerged the winner.

"Man, now the score's 0 to 1..." Sora sighed in defeat. Kairi came over and looked at the two of them.

"Tired? How about we call it a day?"

"Sounds good to me," Riku said and put his wooden sword away.

"Yeah, sure," Sora said. Sora went over to the paopu tree and sat high up on the trunk.

"Okay, it is getting late. We'll finish up tomorrow." Kairi said and sat next to Sora. Riku also went over but he leaned against the trunk instead of sitting down. They sat and watched the sunset, until Sora spoke up.

"So, my home is out there somewhere. Right?"

"Could be. We'll never know by sitting here," Riku replied.

"But how far could a raft take us?"

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else."

"So, suppose you do get to another world. What would you do there?" Kairi asked.

"I haven't really thought about it. Guess I won't know until I get there. It's just, why are we here? On this island? If there are other worlds out there, we could just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" Riku answered.

"I guess," Sora said and laid down.

"Exactly."

"How many worlds do you think are out there?" Sora wondered out loud.

"I'm not sure, but we need to go out there and find out. So let's go."

"Yeah, let's go." Sora said and looked out at the sunset. It started to get darker and they decided to head home. Kairi walked ahead, while Sora and Riku followed behind.

"Sora." Riku called tossing a fruit to him. Sora turned and caught the fruit.

"A paopu fruit?"

"If two people share one, there destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what." Riku explained and walked past Sora. Sora turned and looked at Riku confused. "C'mon, I know you want to try it." Riku slightly laughed and started running.

"Who would I give it to...?" Sora was still confused. He pocketed the fruit and followed after Riku.

OoOoOoOoOo

Sora woke up early and went to the island that everyone spends their free time on. He got there as the sun was trying to light up the island from behind a big tree. He wandered over to the waterfall by the big tree then looked at the gap hidden in a crack against the rock wall. He shuffled his way through the hole and walked down the narrow path. At the end of the path it opened up in to a small cave. Sora walked into the small cave and the first thing he noticed was a door. He examined it as he got closer. "Why is this door here?" Sora wondered a loud.

"Do you know what lies beyond the door?" A cloaked man asked. He stood in a shadow next to the door.

Sora turned around as soon as the man spoke. "How did you get here? Who are you?"

"Do you know what's beyond the door?"

"No..."

"There is so very much to learn, you understand so little. A meaning less effort."

"Oh yeah?"

"One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

"Says the guy I've known for a grand total of two minutes." Sora drawled sarcastically.

"This world has been connected. The darkness will eclipse this world."

"What are you talking about?"

"Soon the heartless will come to this world. Think you can stand up to them?"

"Heartless...?" Sora muttered to himself, his heart starting to race. Why did that word sound so familiar? And was he starting to get really nervous? "I can take on anything!" He declared, masking his growing concerns.

"Such confidence. We'll see if you still have that confidence when they come."

Sora eyed the door with much more caution than he did originally. He turned to look back at the man but he was gone. He looked at the door again, examining it. He reached for the door. He searched for a way to open it, since there was no doorknob. He gripped the side of the door, ready to pry it open.

"Sora!" Kairi's voice called from outside.

"Come on Sora, there's still work to do!" Riku yelled.

Sora listened as they called him. He let go of the door and turned around. He took a couple of steps, starting to head out. He stopped when he saw Riku running towards him. "Whoa!" Sora yelled just as Riku came to a stop. They stood just inside the cave, out of the narrow path.

"What are you doing? Trying to get out of helping again?"

"No. I was going to see what was on the other side of that door. Do you know?"

"Door? What are you talking about? Come on, we still need to gather supplies."

Riku didn't know about the door? Has he never been in the secret spot? Or maybe he just couldn't see it? He would have to check with Kairi. He knew for a fact that she'd been down to the spot a few times.

"Alright, let's go!" Sora ran past Riku and was soon out of sight. Riku stood there and noticed a figure out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to see who it was, he didn't see anything.

"Hurry up, Riku!" Kairi yelled.

Riku stared at where he thought there was a figure, a little suspicious.

"Now who's trying to get out of helping?" Sora taunted.

"Hey, I'm not the one who fell asleep on the beach!" He yelled back then went out to join Sora and Kairi.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Riku heard a thud and looked to see what caused the sound. In the bundle of coconut trees Sora was on the ground holding a coconut. "Sleeping again, Sora?" Riku called, but Sora didn't seem to hear him. Sora was already back up and climbing another tree. Riku shook his head and started heading for the secret spot. He already got the seagull egg and gave it to Kairi. She was sitting near the waterfall stringing shells together. She looked up, realizing he was there.

"Hey! Did you get everything?" She asked.

"I still need one more mushroom." He walked past her, towards the gap next to the tree.

"Ok, but hurry up! We still have to finish with the raft!" She called as he disappeared into the moss covered hole in the wall.

When he got into the small cave he noticed at the door then looked to the side to see a mushroom hiding behind a rock. He bent down and grabbed the mushroom. The drawings on the wall he recognized as Sora and Kairi. As he stood back up he noticed a guy standing next to the door. "Who are you?" Riku asked, he didn't know the guy and there was no way he was already in here before Riku got here.

"I have come to see the door to this world. That other boy, so naive, he will be over come by darkness. What about you? Are you smarter then him?"

"You mean Sora? What 'darkness'?"

"The heartless will come. This world will return to the darkness from whence it came. Even you will return to darkness."

"We'll see about that," Riku returned, defiantly.

"You may act tough now but once the heartless get here you won't stand a chance."

"What are heartless?"

"You'll know when the door opens."

"Really?" Riku stared at the door, it didn't look like it would be opening anytime soon. He turned to asked the man a question but he was gone. Riku stood there staring at the spot the man was for a moment then left the cave. When he stepped out he noticed Sora was standing next to Kairi with his hands behind his head, smirking.

"Looks like I win this time!"

"Looks like it." He walked over and gave Kairi the mushrooms.

"We're not done yet!" Kairi stated as Sora started waking off.

"What?!" Sora turned and looked at her in shock.

"We still have to finish putting the raft together!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Riku was laying on his bed in his room. He couldn't sleep with the thought of leaving the islands on his mind. He also wondered about those 'heartless' the man was talking about were. . He looked out the window to see storm clouds over the island the group always hang out on. "The raft!" He jumped up from his bed and left his house. He got to the island as fast as he could. He noticed two familiar boats in the dock as he came in. "Looks like Sora and Kairi are here."

"Riku!" Kairi yelled. Riku turned to see Kairi running towards him but stopped as black creatures popped up from the ground. He was about to run over to help her but more popped up in front of him.

"Kairi, run!" He pulled out his wooden sword and lashed out with his sword, and was amazed when his sword phased through the thing without doing any damage. He tried several more attacks but soon realized this was doing nothing. He quickly switched to avoiding them as they slashed at him, hoping he could distracting them so they wouldn't go after Kairi. He soon lost sight of Kairi and hoped that she made it out safely. He continued to try his best to cause these things damage, with little effect. 'These look like the things from my dream!'

One noticed his attention slipping and managed to catch him off guard and he fell to the ground, and lost his grip on his wooden sword. The other creatures quickly swarmed him and Riku was on the bottom of a dark dog pile. He struggled as hard as he could, trying to reach his blade. There was a sudden flash of light, and Riku felt his hand grab something. Riku used what he grabbed to fling off all of the creatures with one good swing. Riku was suprised at how light the things were, considering he basically couldn't move a second ago. He stared at the item he grabbed and the first thing he noticed was it's unique shape.

"Is this a key...or a sword?"

It looked like a cross between a key and a sword, interestingly enough. It was much lighter than it looked and packed quite a punch apparently, despite how goofy looking the thing was. He supposed it could cause some damage, at least to the dark things attacking him at the very least. It didn't look sharp enough to cut real actual people. While he was studying his new sword, the dark creatures had reformed and attacked him again, this time in greater numbers.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Are these heartless?" Sora asked himself as he kicked one that had no effect on the thing. Sora didn't really find these things that scary strangely enough. He found them more familiar than any other feeling and that terrified him. He caught one and threw it back into it's brethren, watching as they all dissolved at the same time. He was caught off guard when a bright purple light started to emit from...himself? He pulled off his right glove and noticed that his tattoo or birthmark thing was glowing a bright purple.

"What's going on...? I don't have time for this!" Sora decided and took off his other glove as well. He had noticed earlier when fighting the heartless, that the only thing that had damaged them was his actual fingers. So whenever he had punched or kicked them, it had phased through them. Hence he had taken to just flinging them around. But without the gloves he should be fine. He also took off his shoes, just to be safe. His eyes widened as a thought occured to him.

"The door!" He remembered and raced for the secret spot. He fought his way through the dark creatures as he went. When he reached the tunnel they stopped following him. He ran in to see Kairi standing there.

"Kairi!"

Sora was shocked by the expression on her face as she turned to greet him. It was so...empty! He hated it. Something had happened to Kairi and no one had been there to help her. What should he do? What COULD he do?

"Sora..."

Sora got the terrible feeling that Kairi was this way because of that door. That stupid door that wasn't open. Which didn't make sense, if the door wasn't open, what was going on? And why didn't the door do this to Sora when he was here earlier. Sora was brought out of his musing when he saw Kairi begin to reach for him.

And then the door exploded.

He barely had time to brace himself against the gale of darkness that burst forward and lifted Kairi off her feet toward them. Sora opened his arms to catch her, he wasn't here to protect her earlier, but he wouldn't let anything happen to her now!

But then Kairi vanished and his heart stopped. Sora couldn't focus on that as at the same time the force from the door increased and Sora was blown away. He felt...something flood his body and passed out from force of it.

_The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction..._

_Is this the power you seek?_

_Yes._

_Your path is set._

OoOoOoOoOoO

Riku hit the ground hard. He sat up and noticed he was on a tiny piece of the island, floating in the air. There was a tree and a boat mostly buried in the ground were the only things on the islet. He looked around for Kairi or Sora but instead spotted a big dark creature with a hole in it's chest shaped like a heart. "The same one from my dream!?" He thought aloud as he stared up at the thing. It seemed to shift, ready to fight. "Fine then," Riku got up, holding tightly to the grip of the key sword he was using, "Let's go!"

It responded by slamming it's hand onto the ground. It created a portal on the ground as Riku quickly approached it and began slashing at it's arms. He was shocked when smaller creatures began to come out from the portal. He tried to continue attacking the thing's arm, but numerous attacks from the little ones forced Riku to deal with them first. The first one that leapt at him was cut cleanly in half, dissolving into smoke. The second one dove at him as fast as it could. Riku dropped onto his belly and the thing simply flew off the floating rock, never to be seen again. Or maybe it would be back. Riku couldn't tell, they all looked the same. He soon finished destroying the little ones just in time for the thing to punch the ground again. This time, Riku ran up it's arm and began to attack it's head. Once it began to stand up again he hopped down as he wasn't sure what would happen if he got too high up.

He noticed a giant ball of darkness in the sky taking the place of the moon. It was growing and sucking everything up in it's path. 'I guess that's where the rest of the island went...' Riku thought to himself as he grabbed the boat and held on for dear life. It worked for a little bit, until the boat itself was lodged from the ground and soared into the ball, Riku hot on it's heels. A strange feeling began to flood Riku's body and he lost consciousness

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Disclaimer, I don't own Kingdom Hearts

OoOoOoOoO

The first thing Sora thought he saw when he woke up was a...fat centaur...staring at him. He shook his head lightly, hoping it would wake him up a bit. Obviously he had hit his head or something. Satyrs didn't exist. Especially fat ones. This dream satyr was short only coming up to Sora's knee if he stood up. His legs bent backwards, and looked similar to a horse's with brown fur coating the entire leg. He had no toes, but rather hooves. He was a tubby thing Sora noted idly. He was almost wider than he was tall. Matter of fact, he had things to do, shouldn't he be waking up by now?

Sora was snapped out of his thoughts by the dream hitting him in the face. 'Ow! Okay, maybe this isn't a dream...'

"That's for not listening! I'm Phil and I have 4 things to ask ya! Number one, Who are you? Number two, where did you come from? And number 3 why are you here?"

"Okay...I'm Sora...and I came from...a different world maybe? I'm not sure exactly, but I need to get back. I don't know where here is, but I certainly don't want to be here. I need to find my friends!"

"You couldn't have come for the tournament kid." Phil stated offhandedly, completely ignoring Sora's previous answers. Not only did that bug Sora, but the way he said it just rubbed him the wrong way.

"And why not? And don't call me kid, I gave you my name like two minutes ago." Sora retorted angrily, rising to his feet. Now looking down on the Not-dream satyr Phil.

"You? In the tournament? Don't make me laugh! Phil started, laughing before he finished the statement, clutching his belly and falling over. Sora opened his mouth to tell the satyr exactly what he thought of the tournament, and Phil himself, when he heard a sound similar to the thing that blasted him last night. Sora looked up, following the sound, just in time to see a body fall and land on top of his own.

Sora didn't really have much to see, considering that he was under the person, but from what he did notice was that this person was female. And she had green hair, which was kind of weird. And it smelled nice. Instead of saying any of that, a groan erupted from his throat instead.

"urg..." was all the brunnete had said.

The green haired girl picked herself up off of Sora and stood next to him, giving him a hand to help him. Sora accepted the hand and stood up, coming face to face with the new girl. He stared into her blue eyes at first and did slowly started to study the rest of her. She looked to be around his age, again with mint green hair that was kept in a ponytail, and two long bangs framing both ends of her face. She wore a red dress along with a purple sash around her waist which held a rapier, and under the dress she wore white pantyhose with a repeating red pattern all over it. And on her feet she wore red boots.

"Sorry about that...my name is Terra...and you are?" The newly named Terra asked, speaking slowly and clearly, her eyes having never left Sora's.

"I'm Sora. Nice to meet you, and don't worry about. I crashed here a little while ago. And I just had that guy for company. Did you come from Destiny Islands too? Do you know what happened? Have you seen my friends Riku and Kairi?"

The girl immediatlely shook her head and closed her eyes. "I'm not sure. I can't really remember much, and the things that I do remember..." She shuddered. "Let's just say I have no idea what's going on."

"Are you here for the tournament missy? You can't handle it." Phil interupted, ruining the moment between the slowly forming duo.

"Terra blinked at Phil, but didn't respond to his taunt. Sora however, wasn't as calm and collected. "And how exactly do you know that? Who exactly do you think you are?" Sora started gearing up for a long rant, before Terra interupted.

"What if we work together? We can't be that bad." Terra reasoned, before Sora could continue or Phil could respond.

The goat man crossed his arms, seeming to think on this. This year's tournament had some tough cookies in it. He'd feel responsible if these two brats hurt themselves. Sora, who saw the man weakening, decided to taunt him a little.

"Scared we'll win your stupid tournament?" Sora asked, grinning widely.

"What?! No! That's it you guys are in!" Phil then turned around and walked in the stone building, muttering to himself about cocky brats. If they get themselves hurt it's on them. He was washing his hands of the responsibility.

"Looks like we're a team, now" Sora ventured, placing his hands behind his head. "And also, I don't think I even want to do this. I need to find my friends, and a way off this world."

"I agree, but as far as I can see..." Terra started, eyeballing their surroundings, "All I see is that colisuem in this world...which means this place is all about combat. If we want any help, or answers, we're going to need to fight. Will you fight with me Sora?

Sora gulped, hiding a blush with difficulty. He had never fought with someone before, it was always just him. But she was just as lost as him, and as far as he knew, this was the only way to get answers. So he nodded, and the newly formed team went inside the colisuem to talk and bond a little bit.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Riku woke up in a lot of pain.

It was definitely not a pleasant way to wake up, but he supposed he should be happy that he woke up at all. Still, that didn't stop him from muttering curse after curse with every movement that sent pain through out his body.

He didn't have any time to waste however. One of the first things he noticed upon waking up was the distinct lack of best friends surrounding him. That meant the others were somewhere else, possibly with injuries similar to the ones he was currently sporting. Sora would be okay, he was tough, but Kairi couldn't handle things like that at all.

"The things I do for my friends." he hissed as he slowly made his way through the brightly lit, but still empty town. "You guys better be okay..."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Goofy held back a sigh as Pluto refused to respond to his commands. Normally it was fine, it was nice to take a slow path and lollygag all day. But even he knew when it was time to be serious and leave the games for a latter day. There was danger approaching, and he could almost feel the darkness slowly making it's way towards everything.

Watching two stars-both worlds, simultaneously vanish before their eyes just hours ago had only cemented the urgency that had led to Mickey leaving without saying goodbye or letting anyone know where he was gooing.

Goofy couldn't help but to be annoyed by Mickey's sudden departure. He should have known that Donald and Goofy wouldn't like, or want to be on the sidelines, whether they were given a task or not. Mickey had the tendency to leap before looking and as a result, he needed teammates to watch out for him. He spared a glance at his other friend. Donald was standing there impatiently, his arms crossed and his face set in a scowl as he stared in the direction the dog had gone.

"Maybe he found something," he suggested when it seemed the duck was about to burst.

"Fine."

He was a bit surprised at how relieved he was to hear that, but decided to think about it later.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Donald might have been irritated at the behaviour of Pluto, but he was also curious. It wasn't like Pluto to act like this at all. So, it had been with mostly fake irritation that he decided to investigate what the dog had found

Now, as he rapidly cast various cure spells on an injured girl, he was glad he did.

"It's not closing," Goofy murmured worriedly.

'I can see that', Donald thought viciously. He didn't spend years studying anything and everything he could about magic only to have it backfire when it counted. He would make the spells work.

With each second, he could feel this girl- so young -slip away little by little. Finally, finally, he felt the wounds give way to magic. It wasn't much, but it gave him a little more time. It gave him hope.

"Pick her up, Goofy. We need to get him somewhere safe, and maybe this Leon guy we're supposed to meet knows someone that can help."

Because he wasn't sure he could save this kid by himself, and he need the assistance.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Riku would have groaned in frustration if he wasn't positve he didn't have the breath for it.

He had seen those weird monsters...heartless that had attacked the island hanging around, so he had tried to sneak away through the large door. However, he had forgotten that they had a unique method of travel, so when they came out of nowhere, he'd panicked and possibly alerted any and all heartless to his position. He tried to shut the door behind him, only to recieve a fireball for his efforts.

It was only when he managed to shut the door firmly that he allowed himself a brief moment of rest. He braced himself as he felt another wave of exhaustion hit him. He refused to stop because if he did, he was sure that he was going to get up again for quite some time, and as long as Sora and Kairi were missing, that was unacceptable.

'Where are you, Sora, Kairi?'

He wouldn't figure that out by resting here now would he? Riku took a deep breath, doing a quick sweep of the narrow alley he was in as he did so. There was only one way he could go if he didn't want to go backwards. He didn't know where it led, but he wasn't going to leave this place until he found his friends. So he started walking.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he groaned when he saw more monsters appear in front of him. He was trapped.

Doing his best to ignore the fresh, burning pain he'd acquired, he moved into a defensive stance and prepared to fight.

"This would be a great time you to pop up, you stupid key sword," he muttered.

Unsurprisingly, nothing happened, which is exactly what had been happening since the first time he used it on the islands. He had no idea why, but it really didn't matter. All that mattered was that he couldn't bring it out, and he needed help.

He didn't think that he'd be able to get through as he was.

Before he could think on the situation much longer, another fireball crashed down, this time hitting the creatures as opposed to him. Blinking in confusion, he looked up and matched gazes with an older man. Seeing another person was very welcome, although he wasn't sure of the look the man was giving him.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Leon grumbled to himself as he walked through Traverse Town. Normally, he wouldn't be in such a foul mood, but he was currently thinking about the kid the dog and the duck had stumbled upon.

He'd been right outside Cid's shop, looking for the Keybearer, when they came rushing up the stairs with the boy.

He had been startled by their appearance. He had seen that kind of injury before and it bothered him. A lot. It was never pleasant seeing the results of heartless attacks, especially when the victim was so young. He didn't show any of these thoughts though. All he had done was lead them to Aerith before resuming his search. The sooner he found the keybearer, the sooner all of this would stop. Whatever Donald and Goofy wanted, it could wait until later.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a door creaking.

Considering everything else that had occured so far, he guessed he shouldn't have been surprised to see another kid running through the doors, Heartless right behind him.

He frowned. The Heartless were getting more violent, it seemed.

There would be time to think about that later, though. For now, it looked like the kid needed a hand. Leon unleashed a quick fire spell at the Heartless. The moment they were gone, a pair of eyes locked onto his own, the suspicion obvious even at this distance. He ignored it and took his time in studying the teen before him.

It seemed strange that two people around the same age would come here at the same time. It was highly likely that they knew each other, especially if one looked at their physical states. This new teen looked exhausted. Cuts, scrapes and bruises adorned what skin he could see. And then there was the burn that he'd watched him get. All in all, he was in a slightly better condition than his possible friend.

"What's that look for?" the kid asked, his stance tensing up.

"Just thinking," he said, hoping to put him at ease again. "You're the second beat up kid I've seen today."

'Maybe they do know each other,' Leon thought to himself when he saw Riku tense up even more.

"Sora? Have you seen him?"

"I don't know her name-"

"Kairi then?"

"...I might have seen her."

"Where is she?"

"I'll tell you...but only if you tell me why you want to know."

"Tell me where she is...Please."

Leon felt his resolve weaken. The desperation in the kid's voice was getting to him. He sounded like he felt guilty about something, but Leon knew all too well how easy it was to feel guily over something you had no control over. Infact-

"Tell me, damn it!"

Looks like he'd hesitated just a moment too long.

Leon sighed as the teen charged him, making sure to put his gunblade away. He didn't really want to hurt the teen, and he doubted he would even last that long. He would let the kid tire himself out, maybe take a few punchs and kicks, and either let the guy tire himself out, or simply knock him himself. He wasn't sure yet.

Which is why he was caught completely off guard by the giant key that hit him in the stomach.


End file.
